Traveling to fortress Kodak

Dnipropetrovsk — The earth ramparts of this fortress are located on the Dnipro picturesque bend near the southern outskirts of Dnipropetrovsk. According to project initiators, this provides a nice opportunity to relax and study the area’s history. “The tourist route ‘Traveling to Kodak Fortress’ is intended for children, young people, and families with children,” says Ivan Valiaiev, head of the Cossack Martial Arts Club. “Excursions are available for groups of at least 10 people. This may be a one-hour, as well as a two- or three-day route. We offer tourists a walking excursion to the fortress ruins and the necropolis, Spas master classes in martial arts, and the traditional Cossack kulish [millet and fatback meal. – Ed.]. If tourists come for several days, they are in for Cossack amusements, dawn-to-dusk training, swimming in the Dnipro, Cossack initiation rites, etc.” The village of Stari Kaidaky has an ethnographic museum whose exhibits tell the history of the fortress and the area. The Kodak fortress was built in 1635 according to the blueprints of the French engineer Guillaume de Beauplan who had left behind a famous diary on Ukraine. The Polish administration intended to use this fortification to block water routes to the Zaporizhian Sich. However, Kodak was soon taken by storm and ruined by the Cossacks with Otaman Sulyma at the head. The restored Kodak fell for a second time after being besieged by Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s troops. The fortress was finally ruined in the early 18th century under the Treaty of the Pruth. In the Soviet era, Dnipropetrovsk ethnographers managed to save the fortress ramparts which had nearly fallen victim to a granite quarry. In the past few years, the fortress has been a Mecca for visitors from Ukraine and Poland. The new itinerary can take a proper place among other similar projects. “Green tourism has good prospects for development in Dnipropetrovsk oblast,” says Larysa Filinova, director of the Center for Green Tourism and Folk Crafts in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. “There are now seven mansions in Petrykiv raion, four in Pavlohrad raion, three in Tsarychansk raion, and two in Nikopol raion. Mansions are also expected to be opened in Pokrovsk and Vasylkiv raion.”